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Prorogue protest letters delivered to Del Mastro

Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro defended the federal Conservative government's decision to prorogue Parliament, speaking Monday morning to a group of about 12 protesters at his constituency office.

The group presented about 140 letters to Del Mastro, written by local people concerned about the hiatus Parliament has taken.

Del Mastro accepted the basket of letters and sat down with the group to address their concerns.

Sitting in the conference room of his constituency office, Del Mastro said the hiatus was necessary.

The government is trying to reform the Senate, he said, which cannot be done while Parliament is in session.

All bills that were introduced before prorogation will continue at the same stage they were at when Parliament was suspended, he said.

Victoria Gare, spokeswoman for the group Anti-Proroguing Committee of Peterborough, said the government's actions were cause for concern.

"I'm pretty distraught," she said.

The government is governing without the consent of the people, she said, and it's an issue of democracy.

Del Mastro said Parliament has been suspended 104 times before the Conservatives did it.

Behind him on a white board, Del Mastro's staff had written a brief summary about proroguing, including the fact that former Liberal prime ministers Jean Chrétien prorogued Parliament twice and Pierre Trudeau did it 11 times.

The issue isn't a question of working or work ethic, he said.

"I'll sit in July, I'll sit in August, I have no problem with that," he said.

Joyce Barrett, with the Anti-Proroguing Committee of Peterborough, said many of the letters were gathered at the Peterborough Farmers' Market one Saturday.

She was there to talk about the rally and letter-writing c a mpaign, she said, but many of the people she spoke to wanted to put pen to paper right away.